Wiktionary
n. (context anatomy English) The system of organs serving for respiration.
WordNet
n. the system for taking in oxygen and giving off carbon dioxide; in terrestrial animals this is accomplished by breathing [syn: systema respiratorium]
Wikipedia
The respiratory system (called also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for the process of respiration in an organism. The respiratory system is involved in the intake and exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between an organism and the environment.
In air-breathing vertebrates like human beings, respiration takes place in the respiratory organs called lungs. The passage of air into the lungs to supply the body with oxygen is known as inhalation, and the passage of air out of the lungs to expel carbon dioxide is known as exhalation; this process is collectively called breathing or ventilation. In humans and other mammals, the anatomical features of the respiratory system include trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, lungs, and diaphragm. Molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide are passively exchanged, by diffusion, between the gaseous external environment and the blood. This exchange process occurs in the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs.
In fish and many invertebrates, respiration takes place through the gills. Other animals, such as insects, have respiratory systems with very simple anatomical features, and in amphibians even the skin plays a vital role in gas exchange. Plants also have respiratory systems but the directionality of gas exchange can be opposite to that in animals. The respiratory system in plants also includes anatomical features such as holes on the undersides of leaves known as stomata.
Usage examples of "respiratory system".
Overall weakness ensued with creeping paralysis and eventually the collapse of the respiratory system.
The cool, dry, clean air seemed therapeutic for her respiratory system.
It warms the body, removing pain, especially rheumatism, and it strengthens and heals the respiratory system, as well as boosting the immune system.
He'd have greatly preferred the comfortable ritual of filling, lighting, and tamping his long-stemmed briar pipe, but his companion's respiratory system, with which he had considerable professional acquaintance, was severely irritated by tobacco smoke.
In either case, small traces of cyanide would combine with these metals and immobilize the respiratory system of the terrestrial living cell.
Smollett, the respiratory system in your body and in the bodies of all air-breathing creatures on Earth is controlled by certain metal-containing enzymes, I am taught.
The morphine would send him to never-never-land long before the succiny1choline concentration paralyzed his respiratory system.
I decided my respiratory system had gone on strike under intense pressure from the olfactory center, and was now working overtime to fill the backlog of orders.